


Anchor

by moonfleur



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Implied Sexual Content, JiHan, Light Angst, M/M, MinWon - Freeform, Sexual Humor, Slightly crack, Strangers to Lovers, Vampires, Werewolves, idk how I thought of this tbh, josh centric, platonic gyuhan, this prompt was hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 01:10:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16692511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonfleur/pseuds/moonfleur
Summary: “You will forget what you saw here tonight, you will forget that you saw me at all. You will remember getting on the bus and going home. Nothing else.”Except Joshua doesn’t forget, doesn’t forget Jeonghan’s blue eyes, aglow with life and fire.





	Anchor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xmhfilms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xmhfilms/gifts).



> For Spooky SVT Fan Fest
> 
> My first ever fic, please be nice <3
> 
> Dedicated to Alex, Katy, Whitney & Carrots.

Jeonghan hummed to himself as he picked up a rag from the kitchen counter to clean up the mess he had made on the floor. That was probably the worst part about this, there was always so much blood. But of course, what would you expect if you stabbed your six-foot tall roommate with a kitchen knife. Jeonghan didn’t even feel sorry for him, not at all. There was only so many times he could tell the guy to not leave his clothes lying around and tonight had been the last straw. 

Still humming, a rather happy tune I might add, he put the rag on top of the already large pile of bloodied rags and moved to pick up the body. He had his arms already in position to lift when he decided that he wasn’t going to burden himself with carrying such a heavy load. Instead, he hooked an arm around a leg and, after checking that the knife in his chest hadn’t been dislodged and that he wasn’t bleeding anywhere underneath, he started to drag the body towards the front door. 

Thankfully, it was already past midnight and most of the other residents in their apartment building were working adults who slept early so Jeonghan was able to drag his roommate down two flights of stairs and out the building’s side exit. He was enjoying the moment, the  _ defilement  _ of his roommate’s body as he knowingly dragged it through the gunked out floor of the alley beside their building. He was so engrossed in thought, in planning where he was going to leave the body, that he hadn’t noticed the figure who had stopped short across the street. Stopped short after seeing a guy drag a dead body twice his size, knife and all, through a dark alleyway in the middle of the night. 

⚓⚓⚓

 

Joshua had just finished an excruciatingly long shift at the hospital and was all ready for a hot bath and a warm bed when the bus he was in came to an abrupt halt a couple of stops away from his. 

“Attention everyone!” The bus driver called out from the front. “It looks like the roads up ahead have been closed for some sort of maintenance. This is gonna have to be the last stop!”

Joshua groaned inwardly, this meant an extra half an hour’s walk for him, an extra half an hour before he can finally wash away the accumulation of eighteen hours’ worth of hospital grime. He peeled himself off the bus seat and out of the bus, a headache already forming behind his eyes. He shouldered his overnight bag and made his way grudgingly through the city streets in the direction of his apartment. 

If Joshua hadn’t been so tired, the walk would have been almost pleasant. Walking past the neat townhouses and low apartment blocks that were more common in this area of the city wasn’t something unfamiliar to him but he was exhausted and could barely think further than the placement of one foot in front of the other. He was so zoned out that his mind didn’t register what he was looking at for a good couple of seconds before the gears in his head finally clicked into place. Grabbing a nearby street lamp for support he squinted through the darkness once more to make sure he had really seen what he’d thought he’d seen and that it wasn’t his tired mind playing horrible tricks on him. 

But, no, there it was - the silhouette of a man dragging  _ something _ through an alley across the street and that  _ something _ looked very much like a body, a very large body. It even looked much bigger than the man dragging it and a small part of Joshua’s mind wondered how someone that much smaller could effortlessly (because it sure looked effortless) drag such a huge load through the streets. The bigger part of Joshua’s mind, however, was screaming warning bells in his head telling him to get away. Or move out of the light of the street lamp at least. 

He edged out of the ring of light cast by the streetlamp, heart thudding heavily in his chest as he felt a gnawing apprehension blossom in his gut. This area was supposed to be safe,  _ the  _ safest neighbourhood in Seoul actually. He certainly didn’t expect to see people lugging dead bodies around in the middle of the night. Joshua glanced at his watch, 00:58, and it wasn’t even that late for heaven’s sake. 

Then a thought struck Joshua, what if the person wasn’t dead? What if he had just been knocked unconscious? Or stabbed but was still slowly bleeding out. What if that person could still be saved? The paramedic in him warred against his more rational side, who kept telling him to ignore the situation, to go home and give himself the warm bath he’d been craving for all shift. The killer hadn’t noticed him anyway, he really could leave without getting involved. 

But, of course, the paramedic won out. So he changed course and headed towards the alley where he had seen the body being dragged. He slowed when he got to the cobblestoned ground of the alley, treading cautiously careful not to make any unnecessary sounds. He peered around the corner at the end of the alley just in time to something being dragged into the park just up ahead. He could also make out a faint humming coming from the direction of the killer.  _ Great _ , he thought to himself,  _ the guy already sounds like a psycho. _

He kept following them, however, until they got to the large wooded park that bordered the North side of the neighbourhood. He hadn’t seen any blood on the ground and wanted to hold onto the hope that the guy wasn’t severely injured but he knew better than to assume that. As a paramedic, he was used to seeing severe injuries that didn’t actually involve blood. But maybe, just maybe, the guy wasn’t dead and the killer  _ wasn’t  _ going to finish him off. 

Joshua entered the park through the same entrance he’d seen the body being dragged through, taking special care to avoid stepping on any of the dead foliage that littered the path. He ducked behind the closest tree and did a quick scan of his surroundings. Nothing.  _ What the heck! Where did psycho killer go?  _ He peeked around the tree one more time and, sure enough, there was nothing. Nothing and no one along any of the paths that led to the giant beech tree that was at the centre of the park. He couldn’t even hear any noises that might sound like a body being dragged through the grassy areas off the path. 

They couldn’t have disappeared, he had seen them enter the park, there was no way-  _ What was that?  _ A rustling sound was coming from somewhere in the middle of the park, way too loud to be an animal or the wind. It wasn’t coming from someone walking on the ground either, in fact, it sounded like it was coming from somewhere up a tree. Confused now, and more than a little intrigued, he peered through the trees again - just in time to see someone fall from its branches. He nearly cried out and was about to rush forward to help when he realised that the person had landed on his feet and was now straightening up, casually brushing the dust off his coat.

Joshua’s mind did a weird double take as the event replayed itself in his head; there was no way someone could survive a drop like that and even he did, his legs should be broken in about a million different places. But there was psycho killer dude - because Joshua was sure it was the same guy - looking like he’d done nothing more than jump off a four-foot ledge. Oh, and he was holding a knife. Of course, he was holding a knife, what crazed killer  _ doesn’t _ have a knife? But the knife was the last straw, and Joshua’s sense of self-preservation kicked in. He was done, he wanted nothing more to do with this situation. Especially since the incapacitated body was no longer in sight, which meant his services were no longer needed. 

He slowly backed off from his hiding spot as he berated himself for wanting to get involved in the first place. He was almost there now, the entrance to the park was just a few meters from his current position. He just needed to -  _ crack _ . Shit. He had been so focused on getting the heck out of there that he had forgotten to watch where he was placing his feet and had promptly put them on a rather large twig. The crack had sounded so loudly in the silence of the park that there was no way Mr Psycho Killer over there had missed it. 

Sure enough, when Joshua raised his eyes to spot where the figure was standing, Psycho Killer was staring right back, knife glinting dangerously in the moonlight. Great, this was it, he was going to die and all because he thought he could save someone else’s life. He was watching Psycho Killer now, steeling himself for what was about to come. The guy cocked his head, seemingly inquisitive, before taking a step forward. And suddenly he was there, right up in Joshua’s space, the point of the blade pressing into his gut.

Joshua didn’t move, afraid to elicit any sort of reaction from the killer but he turned his head so that he could at least look at the guy head-on when-

“Joshua??” 

Joshua’s gaze snapped to the killer’s instantly and  _ holy shit _ , “Doctor Yoon?!” This was impossible. There was no way the head doctor of the Paediatric Ward at his hospital was the same guy he had just seen drag a dead body through the streets of his neighbourhood. Hell, he didn’t even know they  _ lived _ in the same neighbourhood. 

The Doctor watched him calculatingly for the better part of the next ten seconds before he asked, “How much did you see?”

Joshua just looked at him incredulously. “Why? You’re going to kill me anyway. Even if I say that I was only here for my evening stroll before  _ you _ decided that it was perfectly normal to drop out of a  _ 100-foot tree  _ without breaking a sweat, or  _ bones  _ for that matter.”

The Doctor had the audacity to smirk a little as he replied, “So I guess that means you  _ weren’t _ here for just a leisurely evening stroll. I mean,” he glanced pointedly down at Joshua’s body, “unless you like to take walks in your scrubs.”

Joshua glanced down and remembered that he hadn’t changed out of his nurse’s scrubs because he was supposed to have gone straight home. It didn’t matter now, at least the authorities would be able to identify his body. He hoped. The good doctor was also a surgeon and thus very skilled with blades. 

Something flashed across the doctor’s face then, and the knife in his side pressed further in. Joshua steeled himself but the moment was gone as soon as it passed. The knife was removed from his side but Doctor Yoon, Jeonghan if he was not wrong, made no attempts to keep it. Instead, he slowly leaned in closer to Joshua, eyes completely locked on his. Joshua took a step backwards reactively but Jeonghan moved with him, not once breaking eye contact until Joshua hit the wall of the park. That was when Jeonghan took full advantage of the situation, leaning even closer with his hands braced on the wall by Joshua’s head, caging him in.

He smirked. “Nowhere to go now.”

Joshua swallowed, there was nothing he could do, he couldn’t even break free from the good Doctor’s gaze. It was almost as if Jeonghan was looking straight through him, into his soul. It didn’t help that his eyes were so mesmerising, and… were they always this blue? and so light that it almost looked like they were glowing. They were also, quite possibly, the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen but he refused to let that thought take root. In fact, he couldn’t believe that he had just thought about how pretty his killer’s eyes were. He had to be going into some kind of shock.

Jeonghan’s voice broke him out of his reverie, “I am going to say these words, and these words are the only words you are going to hear.” He didn’t wait for Joshua to acknowledge or respond but kept going, all the while his eyes never leaving the other guy’s. “You will forget what you saw here tonight, you will forget that you saw me at all. You will only remember getting on the bus and going home. Nothing else.”

Joshua was confused, it didn’t seem like he was being asked to forget. In fact, it felt like an order, something that should be done without question. But he didn’t feel particularly compelled to obey so he could only respond with a hesitant “Uhh.. okay? Yeah, right, this totally didn’t happen.” He nodded. “Does this mean you’re letting me go?” That appeared to be the wrong reaction because Jeonghan recoiled from him, a look of stunned incredulity on his face.

“What the actual heck?” Jeonghan whispered, mostly to himself it seemed, before squaring his shoulders and looking directly into Joshua’s eyes again. He repeated the same words and Joshua felt a strange need to listen to those words, to obey them, wash over him but it was gone in an instant and Joshua was left staring once more into the eyes of Doctor Yoon Jeonghan.

“Yeah... I heard you the first time. This didn’t happen and I’ll forget that I saw you. I promise.” Joshua added for good measure.

But that only seemed to frustrated Jeonghan even more, which caused him to keep muttering things that sounded like “You’ve got to be kidding me.” and “Of all people, it had to be him” under his breath as he slowly backed up off Joshua. Of course Joshua had no idea what the heck was going and, more importantly, why hadn’t Jeonghan just killed him? It definitely would have been easier than letting him go free and hoping he wouldn’t go to the nearest police station the first chance he got. And why the heck was Jeonghan now pacing up and down, mumbling to himself, and looking just as lost as Joshua felt?

Joshua cleared his throat, “Is there- uh, did I say something wrong? Was I  _ not _ supposed to agree with you back there?” 

Jeonghan’s head snapped to his, a strange expression on his face as he huffed out a less than amused laugh. “Did  _ you _ say something wrong?? You shouldn’t even have…” He trailed off, running his fingers through his hair in clear frustration. “Nevermind. And I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to do this but it looks like I don’t have any other choice at the moment.”

Before Joshua could make sense of what Jeonghan had said, he flipped the knife around and jabbed it, once again, into Joshua’s side. Deftly spinning him around as he did so until he was facing away from Jeonghan. A hand on his shoulder nudged him forward as he heard a voice whisper in his ear, “You’re going to go where I tell you to. Any sudden movements and you’re going to find this knife lodged in your gut.”

Joshua could feel the blade through the thin material of his scrubs and, after what he’d seen, he had no doubt Jeonghan was capable of keeping that particular promise. Fear gripped him but he willed himself to remain calm as he started walking in the direction Jeonghan had directed him to go. 

⚓⚓⚓

 

They came to a stop at the same alleyway Joshua had seen Jeonghan drag the body across just moments before and Jeonghan nudged him towards a door leading into one of the apartment buildings that flanked it. Joshua walked through the doorway and into what looked like a dimly lit stairwell, which was probably a fire escape of some sort. He was just about to ask whether he should head upstairs when he felt the hand on his shoulder move him forward once more followed by a, “Upstairs, second floor. Head to the end of the corridor on your right when you open the door and don’t even think about making a sound.”

He nodded his head slightly to show that he had heard the instructions and proceeded to climb the stairs, still acutely aware of Jeonghan’s hand on his shoulder and the dagger in his back. He reached the second floor and opened the door into a corridor that was the exact opposite of the dingy fire escape. Where the stairwell had been all cold, grey and gloomy, this corridor was brightly lit with warm effervescent lamps spaced out evenly along the walls and a polished wooden floor that gave it a homey feeling. It was clearly one of the nicer apartment buildings in the city, despite what the alleyway might have led him to believe. Joshua didn’t even know why he was surprised, Jeonghan was a doctor after all, and one of the best paediatric surgeons in the city.

He stepped out onto the landing and turned right, heading towards the end of the corridor as per his instructions. He wondered what would happen if he screamed, he was sure that the other houses were occupied and that someone might even be willing to help. But he was also sure that he would be bleeding out on the floor before anyone could even get to their front doors and he didn’t know what Jeonghan would do to the witnesses. So he did what he was told and walked to the apartment door at the end of the corridor in silence.

When they reached the door, Jeonghan reached around Joshua and punched in the key code that would unlock it. Joshua tried to catch the code as it was being punched in but only managed the first four numbers - 1004, the rest disappeared in a blur of fingers. The door swung inwards when Jeonghan opened it and he was promptly shoved inside. Joshua lost his footing and had to pick himself up off the floor so he took the chance to examine his surroundings and was pleasantly surprised (once again) to find himself facing the living area of a cosy apartment. The apartment was lit up with warm lamps, much like the corridor outside, and a huge burgundy sofa was used to separate the living area from the kitchen and dining area. This was definitely not what Joshua was expecting. He had been bracing himself for a cold, dark murder dungeon of some sort so he definitely wasn’t expecting to be brought to Jeonghan’s  _ home _ . He sighed as he straightened up, the night just kept getting weirder and weirder.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Jeonghan called out as he closed the door.

Joshua wheeled around to face the other guy, confused for the  _ n _ th time that night. “What?!”

Jeonghan grimaced at the look on Joshua’s face and gestured towards the sofa as he replied, “I’m not actually going to kill you, so would you at least sit down so that I can explain?”

Joshua could only gape wordlessly at this other curveball that Jeonghan had decided to throw at him. Jeonghan sighed and grabbed Joshua, spun him around and pushed him towards the sofa. Head still reeling from whatever was going on, Joshua let himself be pushed onto the sofa while Jeonghan sat himself down at the other end, perhaps in the hope that he would scare Joshua less if he wasn’t so near him. Joshua looked up as the sofa dipped in response to Jeonghan’s weight, noticing that the murderous aura that had surrounded him earlier had pretty much evaporated. In fact, he looked more like the doctor Joshua would sometimes see in the halls at work, calm and somewhat pleasant, albeit a shade more uncomfortable than usual. 

“Go ahead then,” Joshua prompted. “Try and explain how being seen dragging a  _ corpse  _ could be anything but that.”

Jeonghan directed a pointed look at him as he answered. “Okay, first things first, the body wasn’t a corpse because he wasn’t dead.”  _ Kind of anyway.  _

“I’m sure knife in chest means pretty damn dead, Jeonghan.” He remarked dryly. 

“Not in this case.” Jeonghan countered. But Joshua only looked at him with a kind of mocking disbelief, determined not to believe anything unless there was proof. 

“Unghhh,” Jeonghan groaned, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I know you’re not going to believe me unless I prove it to you so I have no choice but to keep you here until he comes back.” 

If a look could scream  _ what the heck _ , then that would be the look on Joshua’s face right about then. “ _ Comes back?! _ ” he repeated. “Dead people don’t just come back, Yoon Jeonghan. You as a doctor should know that so stop messing with me. If you’re not going to kill me, and you’re not going to tell me the truth, then let me go.”

There was a flash of annoyance on Jeonghan’s face at his words. “Listen, I’m  _ not  _ going to kill you and I promise he’s not dead. Stay here till morning, and if he’s not back by then I’ll personally call the cops on myself.”

Joshua eyes narrowed, “You know when people want someone to stay the night they usually get them dinner and drinks, not murder threats and dead bodies.” 

Jeonghan blanched. “No.. that’s not what I- it wasn’t meant to mean…” he trailed off after noticing the amusement in Joshua’s eyes. He returned the look with a scowl. “Well, if you can make jokes then I’m taking that as a yes to you staying.”

The brief spark of amusement in Joshua’s eyes died in an instant. “Would you have taken a ‘no’?” Without waiting for a reply he continued, “If I’m supposed to stay here and believe that you’re not going to kill me, can I at least take a shower? I’ve been in these scrubs for over 18 hours and I’m sure I’d be doing us, and our noses, a favour if I did.”

Jeonghan sighed at Joshua’s change in expression but nodded slightly, “Go ahead, bathroom’s down the hall, first door on the right.”

“Thanks.” Joshua grabbed his overnight bag and headed off towards the rooms at the end of the hallway leading away from the main living and dining area. There were several paintings hung at irregular intervals along the hallway, mainly abstract pieces that didn’t exactly suit the rest of decor, but who was he to judge a man’s taste in art.

He stopped by the first doorway and flicked the switch by the door to find himself in a moderately-sized bathroom. The spacious shower took up a whole third of the bathroom, its glass panels trimmed in a burnished gold metal. While the house gave off a sense of muted, comfortable luxury, the bathroom practically screamed it with its beige marble walls and gold trimmings. Even the fluffy burgundy bath mat could do nothing to quieten the sheer loudness of its extravagance. To Joshua, it looked like something out of a 5-star hotel and he half expected there to be shower caps and little shampoo bottles by the sink. 

_ Man sure knows how to live. _ Joshua thought to himself as he removed his scrubs and hopped into the shower. The hot water instantly soothed away the stresses from work and the whole “nearly getting killed” episode. He still wasn’t entirely sure that Jeonghan was telling the truth about not killing him but, hey, at least he would be clean if it happened. 

He was just rinsing the shampoo out of his hair when he heard the bathroom door open and a voice call out, “Don’t panic, I’m not looking. Just thought you might need a towel and a change of clothes.” He heard footsteps padding in and could just about make out a silhouette through the steamed up glass of the shower. Something was hung over the top of the glass door and then the sound of footsteps moving away followed by the sound of the bathroom door closing. Joshua let out the breath that he didn’t know he had been holding, he didn’t know why either. It was definitely wasn’t because of an irrational thought that he was about to be murdered in a fancy bathroom. No, definitely not.

Sighing, he rinsed the last of the soap from his body before reaching for the towel that Jeonghan had hung over the top of the door. For someone who had wanted to kill him earlier, he sure was being strangely nice to him now. Maybe he thought that by being nice to Joshua he could discourage Joshua from calling the cops on him when (and if) he finally let him go. He snorted at the thought,  _ as if _ . He reached for the stack of clothes left for him on the counter, grudgingly thankful that he didn’t have to put his scrubs back on. Surprisingly, the t-shirt and track pants were a bit too big for him despite him and Jeonghan being of similar build but at least he had clothes. He tightened the drawstring on the trackies a bit more, tucked the front of the shirt into it and moved to head out of the bathroom.

He was just about to head back into the living area when he heard voices coming from there, so he ducked back into the bathroom and closed the door, stopping just before it actually shut so that he had a gap to listen through. If that person was an accomplice, he might be able to find out what exactly was going to happen to him.

“It really had to be tonight, of all nights huh, Yoon Jeonghan?!” An annoyed voice that he didn’t recognise drifted down from the hall. “You really couldn’t have waited till I was away or something?”

“Look, I already said I’m sorry! I didn’t know you would be coming over today.” He could hear the exasperation in Jeonghan’s voice. “Besides, I warned him so many times, gave him so many chances. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

“So you stabbed him. Again.”  _ Again? _ “And where did you leave him this time? It better not be on one of his friends’ doorsteps.”

“Of course not! And he was the one who left _me_ on a doorstep, heartless dog. Poor Cheol nearly had a heart attack, you know, if his heart was still beating.” _What the actual heck now?_ _What was going on?_ Joshua was so confused but he knew that he had to keep listening or he would never find anything out.

The other guy let out a small chuckle, “Oh yeah, that was him. It was funny though, you have to admit.”

“Anything he does is funny to you but you were so ready to flay me if I’d done that to him.” He could practically hear the scowl in Jeonghan’s voice. “Which I didn’t by the way. But I’ll let him tell you all about it when he gets back.”

“You asshole. But I guess that means I’m staying here till he gets back then.” He heard the couch groan as if someone had thrown himself on it.

“I don’t think you should.” Jeonghan’s voice was noticeably softer now, so much so that Joshua had to strain to hear him. “I have someone over.”

There was a pause and then, “A human? I thought you weren’t going down that road again Hannie.”

“No no, that’s not why he’s here! Oh god, not even close.” A small part of Joshua was mildly insulted at Jeonghan’s vehement denial but then he realised what he had been referred to. What did he mean by ‘human’? Shouldn’t they  _ all _ be human? He shook himself and concentrated on the voices again, he could figure that out later. He had a missed a bit while lost in his thoughts but it was Jeonghan speaking when he could finally make out the voices again. “I’m telling you it didn’t work, like not at all. Have you seen that before? I thought it only wouldn’t work on one of us.”

“You’re extremely sure?” The other voice was more serious now.

“ _ Yes _ .” Jeonghan was clearly exasperated and, was that panic in his voice? “I even tried twice! But he just looked at me like I was crazy, which I probably did look like come to think of it.”

The other voice could only hum in response before going silent again like he was contemplating something. “If I’m going to be really honest, this isn’t the first time that I’ve heard of something like this. But it doesn’t happen often and over the course of my life I’ve only heard of a handful of people who are, I guess you could say,  _ resistant _ .” Another pause. “Looks like you have no choice Hannie, you have to kill him. You know the rules.”

Joshua felt his blood run cold at the words. So maybe Jeonghan was telling the truth about not wanting to kill him but this other guy, who seemed superior to Jeonghan somehow, clearly didn’t think the same way. He had just started to think of possible escape plans when Jeonghan’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“I can’t. You know I can’t. And I couldn’t do it to Joshua anyway.” There was something in his voice that Joshua couldn’t quite pinpoint but it made his heart constrict just a bit.

“Joshua?!” The other voice half-shouted, surprised. There was a noise that sounded like someone getting hit with a pillow, followed by a weird yelp and some whispers he couldn’t make out before the other guy spoke again. “You do have the worst luck, you know.”

Jeonghan sighed. “I know I do.” There was definitely sadness in his voice this time.

A measurable silence followed and Joshua wondered if now would be the right time for him to finally leave the bathroom when ‘other guy’ spoke up again. “You know, the shower hasn’t been running for, at least, the last 15 minutes.”  _ Shit _ . He had gotten too carried away with the eavesdropping, but how the heck did he know that the shower hadn’t been running? Joshua decided he could figure that out later as he reached out to flush the toilet in an attempt to make it sound like he was just done with using it. He put some extra water in his hair and then grabbed his towel so that he could dry his hair on his way out of the bathroom.  _ That seemed kind of believable, right _ ?

He made his way down the hall and back towards the living area, noting that both Jeonghan and ‘other guy’ were comfortably seated on the couch. They both turned towards him when they heard his approach, the other guy giving him a noticeable once-over before looking back at Jeonghan with a raised eyebrow. Jeonghan just gave him a blank look before turning back to face Joshua.

“I’m glad the clothes fit, I had to find the smallest t-shirt I owned.” He looked at Joshua sheepishly. “I kinda have a thing for oversized clothes.”

“Uhh.. yeah. No… They, uh, they fit fine.” Joshua scratched his head nervously, aware the the other guy was still looking at him.

“Oh. Sorry, this is Wonwoo. A friend of mine.” Wonwoo nodded in greeting. Even though he was still sitting he looked to be around half a head taller than Jeonghan and slimmer. He was attractive enough in sharp-featured, foxy kind of way and looked to be around their age, maybe even younger. But there was something about his eyes that made him seem older somehow, like he carried the weight of an entire age on his shoulders. It was mildly disconcerting and Joshua could only smile in response.

Ignoring the awkward atmosphere between the two Jeonghan carried on, “Actually, Wonwoo is waiting for the same person you are. The person  _ you _ don’t believe will come back.” 

At that Wonwoo glared at him, “He better come back, for your sake. Or I will actually stake you.”

Joshua looked between the both of them, noting how casual Wonwoo had made the threat and how Jeonghan seemed quite unbothered, and he couldn’t take it anymore. “Will you guys  _ please _ tell me what the heck is going on. How are you guys so casual with throwing death threats around at each other? How, exactly, is a dead body going to make it’s way back here without a hearse? And what in the world did you mean by stabbed him again?!” The last question he directed, specifically at Jeonghan. Joshua could feel his ears heating up, which they sometimes did whenever he got agitated enough. He was tired, frustrated, afraid and had just about enough of Jeonghan dancing around the situation.

He had expected the other two to be, at least, slightly taken aback by his outburst but Wonwoo just glanced at him before aiming a smirk at Jeonghan. “I told you he was eavesdropping. You owe me three bags now, pay up.”

Jeonghan could only groan as he put his head in his hands. “Fine.” And then he looked back up at Joshua, “You wanted the truth right, what I’m about to do next will probably help you understand a few things. But could you at least sit down, so you’re not just standing there gaping like an awkward fish.”

It was then that Joshua realised that he _had_ been staring at their exchange. Slightly embarrassed, he moved to sit on the couch as Jeonghan got up and headed towards the fridge. Joshua watched him, determined to figure out what exactly was happening. He opened the fridge door and pulled out four bags of… no, wait…they couldn’t be… but they did... they looked like... _blood_ _bags_ from the _hospital_?! Joshua recoiled in shock when Jeonghan turned back towards them, the white of their hospital’s crest standing out stark against the dark red of the blood in the bag.

Jeonghan noticed his expression and gave him a sad kind of smile. “I knew this would happen but I also knew that if I had just told you, you would have thought I was crazy. Although, I’m sure you still think I’m crazy.”

Joshua just stared at him as he passed three bags to Wonwoo who, to Joshua’s horror, had materialised fangs and was starting to use them to pierce holes into the top of one of the bags. Wonwoo looked up then and noticed Joshua’s stunned stare but he could only give him a smile that mirrored Jeonghan’s.

Jeonghan’s voice snapped him out of his stunned trance, “Wonwoo, use this, please. You’re going to get it all over the couch if you try drinking from the bag again.” He handed Wonwoo a straw, to put into one of the holes he had made in the bag, before addressing Joshua again. “Do you understand now?”

Joshua looked up at him, where he was standing beside Wonwoo. “You’re…  _ Vampires _ ?”

Jeonghan only nodded, his own fangs still visible from when he had used them on his own bag. 

“But how is that possible? I thought Vampires only existed in movies, books, fiction!” He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, couldn’t seem to grasp the truth that was standing right in front of him. Vampires were real? But… Vampires killed people. People, humans, were only food to them,  _ right _ ? Oh God…  _ he _ was food to them. 

Jeonghan must have noticed the panic in his expression and surmised that he had come to that conclusion because he said, “Don’t worry, we’re not going to eat you. These bags aren’t just for show, Vampires haven’t fed off living humans in centuries. We have a law against that. It helps us keep our presence, and those of other non-human beings, a secret from the human population.”

Joshua relaxed a bit at his words, “So, I’m not on the menu?”

Jeonghan smiled at him then, a genuinely warm smile. “No, so you can relax a bit.”

“What about the guy? The one that you said would come back. Is he going to come back because he’s a vampire as well and can’t be killed?” Joshua asked.

Jeonghan burst out laughing at that, “No no, that guy isn’t a vampire. He’s a werewolf, and my housemate actually, but no, he can’t be killed. Well, not with a kitchen knife at least.”

Wonwoo scowled at him then, “Yeah,  _ that guy _ also happens to be my  _ boyfriend _ and the last time Jeonghan decided to stab him, he left him in his car that was parked on the other side of the city.”

Joshua directed his gaze towards Wonwoo, “Wait, he’s your boyfriend but you let Jeonghan stab him and leave him lying around the city?”

Wonwoo just shrugged. “It’s part of their housemate squabbles, and I’d rather not get involved. To be fair, Jeonghan’s been stabbed and left to burn out in the sun, which was probably the closest he has ever come to dying in his entire lifetime. I’m just annoyed because tonight was supposed to be movie night and I haven’t seen Mingyu in weeks.”

Jeonghan at least had the decency to look apologetic at that, “I already said I’m sorry. Mingyu didn’t even tell me he had plans tonight and he did something that he knows really pisses me off. Oh,” his eyes widened as if he had suddenly realised something, “and I hadn’t fed in days, so that was probably the biggest cause of it.”

Joshua just looked at them for a few seconds, not sure if he was believing what he was seeing. “Wait, let me get this straight. You guys  _ stab _ each other when you piss each other off?”

Jeonghan nodded pointedly, “Pretty much. We don’t die anyway. It just hurts, and you’re extra tired when you wake up, but that’s about it.”

Joshua stared at him in disbelief, “What the heck? Are you guys five? Can’t you just talk it out like normal adults?” He shook his head. “What if a human stumbles across you like what happened to me? You say you can’t kill me but would you have killed them?”

“No, Joshua,” Jeonghan responded calmly, not rising to the bait. “We usually compel them to forget what they’ve seen and send them on their way. It’s a gift vampires have.”

“Oh my God,” Joshua’s jaw dropped when the realisation of everything that had happened that night hit him. “That’s what you tried to do to me, isn’t it? But it didn’t work, or I wouldn’t be here now.” Joshua looked at Wonwoo then. “So you told him to kill me??”

Wonwoo, once again, gave him a pointed look as he answered. “As Jeonghan mentioned earlier, we have laws for this kind of thing, especially keeping our existence a secret from the human population. If we can’t make them forget, then we have to tie up the loose ends in other ways. Humans do it too, to each other, so don’t make it seem like we’re the only ones guilty of it.”

He had a point. “So, why am I not dead then?” He asked. “If killing is the next option.”

At this Wonwoo just looked at Jeonghan, as if expecting him to answer. So he did. “I can’t do it.” He replied solemnly. “I’m a doctor, I’m supposed to help humans, not kill them.”

Joshua would have believed him if Wonwoo hadn’t snorted and started choking on the mouthful of blood he had just taken. When he finally swallowed he leaned over and whispered into Joshua’s ear. “No, it’s not that he can’t kill people, he just can’t kill  _ you. _ ” He leaned away. “Mainly because he thinks you’re cute.”

Joshua felt his cheeks flush and he looked up at Jeonghan, but the other was too busy smothering Wonwoo with a pillow to notice. Since Jeonghan was preoccupied, Joshua took the time to study him a bit closer, because he’d never really had the time to before. Never had to time to look at someone who wasn’t a patient, if he was being honest with himself. His shifts consisted of him either being in an ambulance or in the emergency ward, and Jeonghan was hardly ever in the emergency ward because children weren’t usually warded there. He did see Jeonghan more during his overnight shifts (which made sense now) but even then, he was usually too busy to notice.

Now that he’s looking, he had to admit that Jeonghan wasn’t too hard on the eyes, features a perfect mix of femininity and masculinity. His broad shoulders had no trouble filling out the oversized shirt he was wearing too, making him pretty damn attractive in Joshua’s book. But, while Joshua had no problems appreciating an attractive guy, he had never really been attracted to one and he’d only ever dated one person his entire life, some girl he’d met back in college. He put it down to the horrible hours his job makes him work and also that he he didn’t think he had found  _ the one _ . Call him a romantic, but he liked to think that he’d be able to tell if a person’s he’s met is  _ the one _ , or his  _ soulmate _ , for lack of a better term. And, well, Jeonghan had literally threatened him and tried to kill him the first time they had seen each other outside the hospital. If that wasn’t the biggest ‘no’ he had ever seen, he doesn’t know what is.

He was jolted from his thoughts by the sound of a door slamming and a voice shouting, “Jeonghan hyung! Up a tree? Really?!” Joshua looked towards the sound of the voice to see a towering giant of a man, all golden skin and muscles, and looking horribly disgruntled as he stood by the front door. He might even be good-looking if it wasn’t for the crusted dirt covering half his face and the fact that his hair was slick with grime. Joshua’s eye panned down and, sure enough, there was a rip in his blood-soaked shirt where the knife had been. That sealed the deal then, everything Jeonghan and Wonwoo had said was true. There was no way he could try and deny a ‘corpse’ coming back to life anyway, so he just groaned and rubbed his eyes as he laid his head back on the couch. 

Wonwoo, on the other hand, shoved Jeonghan, who was still trying to smother him with a pillow, off and ran to tall, dark and dirty. “Mingyu! Are you okay?” When Mingyu nodded he continued, “Good, cause you smell like dead, wet dog. Please go shower.”

“You wanna come with?” Mingyu smirked, eyes glinting playfully. “I don’t think I can get this gunk out of my hair by myself and,” he lowered his voice to a still-audible whisper, _ “I can make up for missing out on movie night. _ ”

Wonwoo’s eyes widened at the implication and his cheeks had taken on a faint pink hue but he swallowed and shook his head, motioning over his shoulder. “We have a guest. And I think we’ve scared him more than enough for one night.”

Mingyu looked over Wonwoo’s shoulder at Joshua, and Joshua could see him sniffing the air a bit before saying, “A human? What the actual heck?! Jeonghan hyung is he yours?”

Before Jeonghan could respond, Joshua pushed himself off the couch and walked towards Mingyu. “My name’s Joshua, and no, I’m not Jeonghan’s or anyone else’s. I’m just here because I saw Jeonghan drag  _ your _ dead body through the city and his mind control thing doesn’t work on me so they don’t really know what to do.”

Mingyu gaped at him for a few seconds before looking back at Wonwoo, “How much does he know? Does he know everything?” He looked around the room and when he saw the empty blood bags his jaw dropped again. “You  _ fed _ in front of him?! And you can’t compel him. You know you’ll have to kill him right?”

But Wonwoo just looked at him eyebrows arched, as if waiting for some other piece of information to sink in. When it did, Mingyu turned back to Joshua so fast he could almost feel the secondary whiplash. “Wait, did you say your name was  _ Joshua _ ?”

_ Great. It looked like the whole house knew who he was _ . “Yep. The one and only, apparently,” he answered dryly. He looked over at Jeonghan as he said this and was surprised to see that Jeonghan was, very pointedly, inspecting his fingernails. He felt a sudden urge to laugh at the sight of Jeonghan’s desperate attempts to avoid eye contact but he shoved it down and turned back to Mingyu, who just gave him a wink and a toothy grin before sauntering down towards one of the other rooms at the end of the hallway. Wonwoo followed soon after, promising that they wouldn’t do anything to scar Joshua even more.

When they disappeared into the room at the end of the hall, Joshua collapsed back onto the couch as he massaged his temples. The adrenaline from the flight or fight response he had triggered after being threatened with a knife was starting to wear off, and he could feel exhaustion starting to weigh down on him. He felt the couch dip beside him as Jeonghan sat down and he looked over at the other guy, uh, vampire. 

Jeonghan broke the silence first, “I’m sorry, about tonight. It wouldn’t have gotten so messy if the compulsion had worked but I really didn’t know what to do. I’ve never come across someone resistant, like you, before.”

“And you also couldn’t kill  _ me. _ ” Joshua teased lightly, wondering where on earth he was getting this light-hearted energy from. 

Jeonghan’s ears reddened slightly, “Ignore them please, they’re just being kids. I literally mentioned you once…”

“It’s fine,” Joshua smiled reassuringly. “This doesn’t happen very often, so I’m flattered.”

“Doesn’t happen…” Jeonghan choked. “Are you serious? Have you looked in the mirror? If I were you I’d date myself.”

Joshua looked at him with mock seriousness, “What makes you think I don’t do that? What if the reason that I’m not dating anyone is because I like to take  _ myself _ out on dates? What if I sometimes even..” he dropped his voice to a whisper “...bring a mirror to set across from myself so that it’s like I’m with a whole other person!”

Jeonghan snorted with laughter, less embarrassed now. “I’m going to have look out for you and your mirror during our breaks at the hospital now.”

Joshua smiled and leaned his head back onto the sofa again, closing his eyes. “You better, or my mirror and I will be very hurt if you don’t at least come over and say hi.” He could feel sleep taking a hold of him, could barely keep his eyes open but he managed one last thing. “And don’t worry so much, Jeonghan. Your secret is safe with me.”

He succumbed to sleep so quickly that he didn’t hear Jeonghan whisper, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

⚓⚓⚓

Joshua woke up the following morning, or evening rather, to an unfamiliar room and note telling him that he was not to, under any circumstances, open the blinds that covered the windows around the house. He also found a glass of water, a Berocca tablet and some painkillers on the bedside table, which he definitely needed. Joshua smiled at the gesture, still slightly unsure of how he felt about the previous night’s events, but he was also warming to the idea that, maybe, Jeonghan was actually a good person...vampire. 

That idea was affirmed when, on his way out of the apartment, he saw a figure lying down on the sofa draped in what looked to be a fire blanket for protection. Joshua felt a little guilty about that, for forcing Jeonghan to sleep on the couch, where one wrong move might expose him to the sun. That was when he knew that, despite all the (false) threats and murderous intents, Joshua had never been in any danger. Had he been manipulated? For sure. Had he been in actual danger? Probably, at some point, but not from Jeonghan. Did he get hurt? Not at all, he didn’t have a single scratch on him, not even on the spot where the knife had been. 

It  _ had _ been a mess, though, and the world as he knew it was completely changed for him. He had found out that vampires and werewolves were real and had been co-existing alongside humans for millennia,  and had even met some that same night too.  _ Did that also mean other creatures existed too _ ? He shook his head and let himself out of the house, it was still too overwhelming.  _ One step at a time, _ he told himself.

He had the day off but he found himself heading back to the hospital anyway, still in the clothes that Jeonghan had lent him the night before. He’d figured that it would be easier to grab what he needed from the hospital before going home since Jeonghan’s apartment was somewhere between his and the hospital. It couldn’t be because he’d wanted to get the items before sundown and it definitely wasn’t because he needed to grab them while all the other hospital staff were busy with with their shift handovers.

He got off at the hospital bus stop but went in through a side entrance in order to avoid anyone he knew. He didn’t even know why he was doing this, if he was caught he would most definitely lose his job and he’d barely been at the hospital a year. He bypassed the lifts and took the stairs to the lower ground level where all the labs were. The technicians were usually too busy to notice anyone unless they were specifically called upon and test results were usually sent up to the doctors, which meant that the only times nurses or doctors ever came to this level was if they needed a test done. Joshua crossed his fingers and hoped that there wouldn’t be any other medical personnel as he silently pushed open the doors to the floor. 

The hallways were empty and the only sounds he could make out were the whirrs and blips coming from the testing equipment. Perfect. He closed the stairwell doors and pulled his scrubs on over his clothes, complete with surgical mask. That way he would look the part if he ever ran into anyone, and on the CCTV. The room he needed was at the other end of the hallway and down a smaller side corridor on the left, which he made his way to as quickly and as quietly as he could, after doing another scan of the rooms and hallways. He had a few close shaves, including nearly being slammed in the face by someone opening a door but thank the heavens that there was a hallway for him to duck into before whoever opened it saw him. 

By the time he got to the room, it was a good ten minutes later and his heart was racing. He was still questioning his motives but he knew that some part of him believed he was doing the right thing. Taking a deep breath he looked around the room, which was lined completely with glass refrigerators. Each with signs on them detailing its contents. He walked towards the wall at the back where a sign above the fridges read “POSITIVE” and grabbed a couple of bags from each fridge. No one would notice if one or two bags went missing in a hospital right? He shut the door of the last fridge before heading back out to the stairwell, arms overflowing but without any other complications. 

Once he was back in the stairwell, he promptly dumped the bags and scrubs back in his overnight bag. With the evidence hidden, he was a lot calmer as he exited the hospital grounds to wait for the bus back into their area of the city. The evening sun hit him as he cleared the side exit and he frowned up at the sky, it looked like sunset was going to be earlier than he expected. But as long as he managed to get these into Jeonghan’s fridge before the vampire woke up, he could consider this a successful mission.

The bus ride had seemed to go on forever so that when he finally got to the apartment building, he was rushing in, through the same entrance he had taken the night before, and taking the steps two at a time. The sun had been dangerously low when he had gotten off the bus and he was really only  _ assuming _ that Jeonghan would wake up after the sun had set because what did he actually know about vampires? Joshua arrived at the front door and practically skidded to a halt when he realised that he didn’t have the one thing he really needed to surprise Jeonghan - his door code. 

“Argh. I’m so stupid.” He muttered to himself as he racked his brains trying to remember the numbers Jeonghan had tapped in the previous night. He could only recall the first 4 numbers but there were another four numbers that he wasn’t able to catch. He was in the middle of contemplating his options when the door swung open, revealing a very dishevelled vampire who looked like he had been forced out of bed and was still half-asleep.

“You run very noisily, Joshua,” Jeonghan grumbled as tried to fix his bed head by ruffling his hair even more, which only made it stick out in even more places. It made him like strangely endearing to Joshua and he had to stifle the sudden urge to help him fix it.

“Sorry.” He mumbled sheepishly. “I, uh, was trying to get here before you woke up. But then I realised I didn’t know when you’d wake and also that I didn’t know the code to your house so…” he trailed off when he realised he had been rambling.

Jeonghan smiled a bit, “But why are you here? You look like you haven’t even gone home yet.”

“Oh.” Joshua looked down, painfully aware that he was still in the clothes he slept in. Jeonghan’s clothes. “I was going to leave this for you, since you, uh, let me sleep in your bed and lent me your clothes, and left me those painkillers, which I really needed by the way.” He said as he opened his overnight bag to reveal the blood bags he’d taken from the hospital.

Jeonghan exhaled at the sight and Joshua was sure his eyes had glowed blue for a split second. “You didn’t have to. I did try to kill you or, well, threaten to kill you. I was just trying to make up for it.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to let me stay or take a shower. You could have just threatened me to keep my mouth shut and let me go.” Joshua countered.  _ He would never have done that. And I’m sure you know that now too _ a voice whispered in the back of his mind, but he ignored it.

Jeonghan didn’t know what to say so he just nodded mutely. Joshua took that as assent because he then shoved his overnight bag into Jeonghan’s hands saying, “Take it. You can give me my bag back the next time we see each other, uh, at the hospital or something.”

“Thank you,” was all Jeonghan could say, quietly.

Joshua smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder, oblivious to the way Jeonghan stiffened slightly at his touch, “It’s fine.,” he reassured him. “But I’m going to head off, for real now, because it  _ is _ about time I actually went home.”

“It really is,” Jeonghan agreed, laughing lightly. “Get home safe, Shua,” he added, as the door clicked shut.

Joshua stiffened at the nickname, he hadn’t been called that since- He shook his head, he didn’t want to think about it, but it had been a long time since someone last called him that and he was so sure that he would have hated it if anyone else ever called him that. But, for some reason, he hadn’t hated it when Jeonghan had said it, and he wasn’t sure what to make of that.

⚓⚓⚓

The next few days passed by in a whirlwind of work, werewolves and vampires. Joshua was so swamped with new patients and emergencies that he was practically in and out of the hospital every shift. He barely saw Jeonghan in the beginning, although he had been surprised to find the vampire sliding into the seat across from him during one of the rare occasions where they’d both had enough time to sit down and eat. 

They didn’t talk much, both too exhausted from work to hold a proper conversation but it was nice to have someone who could just sit with him while he ate. The nature of his work meant that Joshua rarely had time to eat, let alone with his colleagues because someone always needed to be stationed at the ward or an ambulance so they had to take their meals in shifts. 

After the first few days though, Joshua realised that breaks with Jeonghan had started to happen more often. Even if they happened to be by the vending machine outside an operating theatre or at the hospital’s cafe for a coffee run. Sometimes they would just stand in silence, relaxing in each other’s presences, and sometimes they would talk but even their subjects of conversation varied. One day they could be discussing cases and on others, Jeonghan would be spending the time poking fun at Joshua or making him do silly things. 

It was nice, Joshua realised, to have a friend he could talk to at work about work. Because while he was close with his colleagues in the emergency ward and the other paramedics, it wasn’t the same. He never had to worry when he was around Jeonghan, never had to second-guess himself, and he never felt strained or uncomfortable like he did with most other people. It was like they had known each other forever and Joshua had caught himself, on more than one occasion, feeling grateful for that night.

It was during one of their coffee runs later on in the week when they bumped into Mingyu, who had just entered the hospital, decked out in a dark navy suit. Joshua hadn’t immediately recognised him but Jeonghan had stopped immediately, calling out to him.

“Gyu!”

The taller male pivoted around, towards the direction of Jeonghan’s voice. “Hannie! Didn’t think I’d run into you today, figured you’d be busy as always.” He smiled when he noticed who Jeonghan was with and added with a wink. “Although, I see that you kind of are.”

Joshua had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the implication, which was becoming more and more common, and not just from them but from the hospital staff as well. He smiled at the werewolf anyway. “Hi Gyu. What are you doing here?”

“Board meeting,” Mingyu answered, grimacing. “I hate these things, but my dad always insists that I sit in on them, says it will help me understand how things work.”

Joshua raised a questioning eyebrow at Jeonghan, prompting the latter to explain. “Mingyu’s the hospital chairman’s son, even though I know he doesn’t seem like it.”

“For real?” Joshua looked between the two of them in surprise before addressing Mingyu directly. “Why do you stay with Hannie then? Don’t heirs like you usually live in giant mansions or penthouses?”

Mingyu looked up at Jeonghan in surprise at Joshua’s casual use of his nickname but he only got a shrug in return. Intrigued, but not wanting to press the issue, he turned back to Joshua as he answered, “Yes, most do. My family still does as a matter of fact. But, honestly, I hate living like that. I want to live normally, work hard to earn my money and all that.” He frowned slightly. “I guess I just didn’t want to be reliant on my privilege.” 

Joshua was shocked, he’d never met an heir to a corporation before but he certainly wasn’t expecting the first one he met to be as humble as Mingyu. Hell, he wouldn’t have known that the dead body he’d seen that night was the heir to a healthcare empire if he didn’t just hear it with his own ear. To be fair, the guy did clean up well and he definitely more than looked the part in his current outfit.

“That’s actually pretty cool.” Joshua nodded in appreciation. “Honestly, I would never have guessed that you were an heir to a multi-million dollar corporation, and that’s a good thing.”

Mingyu smiled a small pleased smile and was about to say something back when an oddly familiar voice called out to him from across the hall. They all turned towards the voice to find Wonwoo, decked out in a similar fashion to Mingyu except he’d decided to do away with the suit jacket and had on just a navy silk shirt tucked into his dress pants. Joshua thought he looked even more like a vampire dressed like that but what were vampires supposed to look like anyway? 

Wonwoo looked past Mingyu and finally noticed Joshua and Jeonghan, so he started to make his way towards them. He nodded at them in greeting, and Joshua was surprised to see him do the same to Mingyu. Joshua looked between the two of them, curious, and Jeonghan must have noticed because he leaned in to whisper, “No one at the hospital knows, not even Mingyu’s family, and they want to keep it that way for some reason.”

Joshua looked back at them, surprised for the second time in a span of 5 minutes. “I don’t think I will ever understand you two,” he laughed.

Wonwoo looked at him then, a strange twinkle in his eye, “Us two? What about you two? I’ve been hearing that you two have been spotted making heart eyes at each other over your lunches these last few days.” 

Joshua felt heat creep up his cheeks and was almost a hundred percent sure that his ears were bright red. “We haven’t been making  _ heart eyes _ .” He muttered, looking away. “We just have the same shifts and break times these couple of weeks.”

While Joshua can’t look the other two in eye, Jeonghan cannot stop eyeing them defiantly. “Exactly. There’s nothing wrong with us eating together when we have the same breaks. We know each other, we’re  _ friends _ .”

Joshua felt his heart clench a little at the word but he ignored it. Mingyu, on the other hand, did not. “Did you just say you guys were  _ friends _ ?” He choked out a laugh. “I’m pretty sure I saw Jeonghan-hyung’s head in your lap the other day, you know.” He wiggled an annoying little eyebrow at them as he said this.

Wonwoo, who clearly  _ hadn’t _ heard this, looked at Mingyu in amusement. “Are you serious? Jeonghan was lying, in his lap, in the hospital cafeteria, for the whole world to see? Was Joshua playing with his hair, because that would really take the cake.” He let out an amused chuckle.

Mingyu nodded a confirmation. 

“I was not-,” Joshua started, indignant, but was interrupted by a low whistle from Wonwoo.

“Wow…,” Wonwoo continued. “I never thought I’d hear about Jeonghan being in anyone’s lap, much less  _ Joshua’s _ . And Joshua,” he turned to look at the human, “playing with our Hannie’s hair too. What’s next? Massages?” 

Mingyu snorted a laugh at that and Joshua suddenly wanted nothing more than to slap that look off Mingyu’s face. He had _ not _ been playing with Jeonghan’s hair. Or had he? He thought back to a couple of days ago when Jeonghan had suddenly come up to him in the cafeteria complaining about the long surgery he had just done while deftly placing his head in Joshua’s lap so that he could lie down on the bench that Joshua was sitting on. 

Okay fine, there  _ might _ have been some hair carding going on but Joshua told himself that it was only because Jeonghan had seemed to really like it and his face had looked so… He flushed even more at the memory, flinching a little at how his heart had warmed seeing the vampire finally relax in his lap. He shook his head, he didn’t think anyone had seen them. The cafeteria was most definitely empty since it was an overnight shift, but clearly, it wasn’t as empty as he’d thought. 

Just as he was about to reply, having finally shoved the memories from that (nice) night away, when Jeonghan spoke. “As if you guys don’t lie down with your head in your friends’ laps. It’s  _ normal _ .”

“Uh huh,” Wonwoo cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at him. “Even if it was, you guys have spent every waking moment with each other and the other staff have started to notice.” A knowing smirk had started to dance across his lips as he spoke.

“At least we’re not trying to hide it,” Joshua countered as he levelled a pointed look at the two of them. 

Wonwoo’s features hardened for a second, but it disappeared so quickly, replaced by a mask of cool composure so fast that Joshua wasn’t sure if it had really happened. “We have our reasons.” He answered, the slight resignation in his voice barely discernible. 

Mingyu, sensing the change in Wonwoo’s composure moved closer, just a step, close enough to comfort but far enough to maintain their illusion. He looked at Joshua, “Technically, Wonwoo works for my family.” He explained. “An advisor of sorts. And he’s been with us for the last seven hundred years. So you can imagine what my family would say if they found out that he had fallen in love with their youngest son.”

Wonwoo chuckled a bit then. “He’s made it sound more serious than it is,” he added, throwing Mingyu a fond look. “Although, it was like that when we first started dating. But it’s been almost two hundred years now, keeping it secret has become a habit that neither of us wants to break.”

Joshua looked between the two of them, trying to digest this new information, before turning to Wonwoo. “Hold up,” he said. “So, technically, you work for him?”

Wonwoo nodded. “Mhmm. Or, more accurately, his father.” 

“Wow,” Joshua exhaled. “You guys sure have complicated lives, on top of yknow, not being human and all.”

The couple stiffened visibly, expressions wary, as Jeonghan lightly elbowed him in the ribs before leaning in to whisper, “Don’t say that out loud. Please. We’re being watched at all times and if they find out…” he trailed off. 

Joshua turned to face him, frowning. “If  _ who  _ finds out?” 

But Jeonghan just shook his head, refusing to say more on the subject. The change in atmosphere was almost palpable, broken only by Wonwoo glancing down at his watch and announcing that he and Mingyu had to run. “Sorry,” he apologised. “The board meeting starts in five and I was supposed to have Mingyu ready and seated 10 minutes ago.” 

Joshua and Jeonghan waved them off saying that there was no need to apologise for work. They watched the couple disappear into the elevators at the other end of the entrance hall before heading in the opposite direction to the cafe they had been frequenting together these last few days. 

“So,” Joshua began. “Are you going to tell me what that was about? Who  _ they _ are?”

“I can’t,” Jeonghan answered, pointedly avoiding any and all kinds of eye contact. “Trust me. This isn’t something you want to know.”

“Hmmm.” Joshua hummed in response, frowning slightly.  _ What isn’t he telling me _ ? The fact that Jeonghan was hiding something didn’t sit well with him. He’d thought that after finding out about the whole  _ vampire _ thing, there was nothing else that Jeonghan would need to keep from him. What did it matter anyway, they were just friends, Jeonghan wasn’t actually obliged to tell him anything. He quickly pushed down the small part of him that wished that Jeonghan was. 

He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn’t realised that they had reached the counter and Jeonghan had been asking him for his order for the last five minutes. “Helloooo, earth to Joshua,” Jeonghan called out, waving a hand in front of his face. 

“Oh, sorry Hannie,” he replied, slightly embarrassed that he had been caught. “Uh, just an iced latte for me, please?” 

Jeonghan completed the order, before looking over at Joshua warily. “Are you upset with me?” he asked. 

“Oh, no, no. Of course not.” He answered, a bit too hurriedly to be entirely convincing. 

Jeonghan just frowned at him. “You know I can tell that you are right?” 

Joshua sighed and looked away. “It’s fine, Hannie. You don’t have to tell me everything, I get that. I- ,” he was cut off as someone barreled past him and into Jeonghan, drawing the latter into an enormous hug. 

“Hannie!” the stranger cried out. “I’ve missed you!”

Jeonghan extricated himself from the stranger’s (very well-muscled) arms with a laugh. “Cheol! What are you doing here?”

“I was in the area for work,” Mr Nice Arms answered, beaming at Jeonghan. “So I thought I’d come visit since you never come around anymore.” He pouted then, earning a scowl from Joshua, who had been watching the whole exchange with a growing curiosity and not-so-slight irritation. Who was this guy? And why was he  _ pouting _ at Jeonghan?

Jeonghan must have noticed Joshua’s expression because he spun Nice Arms on his heels so that he was facing Joshua. “Cheol, this is Joshua, he works at the hospital too. And Shua, this is Seungcheol, he’s… uh.. like me.”

Joshua’s eyes widened in surprise as he held out his hand to shake Seungcheol’s. Another vampire? “Hi Joshua,” Seungcheol said, smiling at him. He was a very handsome vampire, and he made Joshua feel mildly threatened although he didn’t know why. 

“Um, hi,” he managed to get out. 

“Sorry for just barging in like that. I haven’t seen Hannie in months,” Seungcheol explained, before looking between the two of them, eyes curious. “Was I interrupting something?” 

Before Joshua could even open his mouth to answer Jeonghan had already spoken. “Oh no, of course not. We were just getting coffee. You’re welcome to join us if you want.” Jeonghan added, smiling at the other vampire. 

Joshua felt his cheeks burn at the dismissal, even though he wasn’t sure why. I mean, it’s not like they were on a  _ date _ or anything, this was just their usual mid-shift coffee run, nothing special. He looked over at the two vampires and couldn’t help but think of how comfortable they looked with each other. They must have known each other for centuries, he thought to himself. 

Joshua felt his insides churn at the thought but he tried to quell it, push it aside. They were all friends anyway, it’s not he like he and Jeonghan are- No, he refused to let himself complete that thought. No, they were friends, even Jeonghan had so himself. 

But when Seungcheol moved to brush a strand of hair out of Jeonghan’s eyes, making the other laugh slightly, Joshua knew he couldn’t stay, didn’t want to stay. It felt like he had just intruded on a private moment and his heart had clenched so hard that he thought he was going to be sick. He excused himself, muttering something about an emergency and having a lot of work before rushing off. 

Jeonghan had looked at him with confusion as he left and Joshua knew that he hadn’t been able to convince him, but he didn’t care. He just needed to get out of there. He didn’t think he could stand another minute watching the two of them with each other. 

He ran into the nearest toilet and braced himself on the edge of the sink, willing himself to calm down. He didn’t even know why he was acting like this, why would he be so bothered by seeing Jeonghan with another friend (a very handsome friend, with a very nice face and even nicer muscles).

“Argh.” He groaned out loud, not caring if there was anyone else in the toilet, those thoughts were not helping. He turned on the tap to splash some water on his face. He needed to get these thoughts out of his head, Jeonghan was a friend, a good friend, probably the closest friend he has at the moment. 

Maybe their sudden closeness is making him feel this way, he thought to himself. Maybe he had let himself get too attached to the vampire. Maybe he needed some time away, some time apart from Jeonghan, just long enough for his heart and mind to get back to their right places. He sighed as he looked up at his dishevelled reflection in the mirror. Yes, space was definitely what he needed. 

Joshua spent the rest of his shift and the following day purposefully avoiding one Yoon Jeonghan. He had even opted to be stationed on the ambulance for the second half of his shift, following that embarrassing situation with Seungcheol. That way, he was out of the hospital on patrol for the rest of the night, which meant he was too busy to think about a certain vampire.

The next day he wasn’t so lucky, however, as other nurses had been rostered to the ambulances. This meant that he was stuck at the hospital, praying that there would be no children involved in any of their new cases so that he wouldn’t have to face Jeonghan. It looked like life had decided to be good to him for the first half of the shift because the good doctor looked to be nowhere in sight.

Joshua had been so relieved that he had unconsciously stopped by his usual vending machine for a drink, his usual vending machine that had recently become  _ their _ usual vending machine. He had just put his coins into the slot when he heard an all-too-familiar voice call him from behind. 

He whirled around to see Jeonghan coming down the corridor towards him, dressed in a white shirt that had no problems emphasising his broad shoulders. Great. He wasn’t ready for this, his heart was already beating a fierce opposition in his chest and he was suddenly overcome by the need to be away from him.

Before the part of him, that wanted to be around Jeonghan could convince him otherwise, he spun on his heels and walked away, leaving his change and a very confused vampire behind. 

His heart was thudding hard in his chest when he rounded a corner and collapsed against the wall. He didn’t know why his body was doing this to him, why he couldn’t look at Jeonghan without his heart racing or his face flushing. An image popped into his mind then, of a hand brushing a strand of hair out of Jeonghan’s face, of Jeonghan smiling at the owner of the hand as he reached up to put his own hand over the other’s. 

Joshua groaned as he sank to the ground, his face in his hands. He was being stupid, Jeonghan had said they were friends anyway, why should he care if Jeonghan wanted to see other people or was already seeing other people? Wonwoo’s voice floated in his mind,  _ he thinks you’re cute _ . “Clearly not cute enough,” he muttered to himself. How could he compare to perfectly chiselled Seungcheol anyway, the guy looked like a sculpture.

He shook his head to get the image of Seungcheol as a greek god sculpture out of his head and pushed against the wall to stand up. He needed to head back to the emergency ward anyway, he technically wasn’t on break yet. He turned to head down the corridor that would take him back to his section when he was body-checked by an extremely grouchy vampire.

“Hong Joshua,” Jeonghan monotoned, levelling a very annoyed gaze at him. “You tell me what the hell is going on right now.”

“Wh- What do you mean?” He tried to ask as calmy as possible, eyes betraying him as they searched for the nearest possible escape routes.

Jeonghan just stared at him, eyes flashing dangerously. “You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been avoiding me since the cafe yesterday and don’t try to deny it. You even asked for an extra ambulance shift when I know you hate being in them because they make you car sick.” Jeonghan moved so that Joshua had his back against the wall, trapping him.

A sense of deja vu washed over him, the feeling of being trapped against a wall but with a knife in his gut, the smell of trees and earth, and of glowing blue eyes. Jeonghan’s eyes weren’t glowing now but Joshua couldn’t look at them either. He bowed his head, “I- I'm sorry.” He finally let out. “I just didn’t know what to do, you and Seungcheol looked a bit busy with each other and I didn’t want to intrude.” He looked up Jeonghan then. “You know, if you were seeing someone else, you could have just told me, I would have understood. I- I would have given the two of you some space.”

Jeonghan looked like he had been smacked in the face with a wet rag. “Seeing someone? Who? Seungcheol?!” When Joshua looked away, unable to answer, Jeonghan burst out laughing. “You’re actually serious. Did you really think Cheol and I were seeing each other?”

Joshua shrugged. “Well, you guys seemed very comfortable with each other, and more than a little  _ handsy _ . I just assumed… I mean there’s nothing wrong if the two of you were, you know…”, he trailed off, knowing that he sounded incredibly stupid.

Jeonghan reached out and rested his fingers under Joshua’s chin, tilting it slightly so that he was forced to look at the doctor. “Hong Joshua,” he repeated. “Seungcheol and I are not seeing each other, we’re friends.  _ Just _ friends. We’ve just known each other for a very  _ very _ long time. Besides,” he continued, “I’m not his type. He prefers... pocket rockets.”

Joshua just looked at him, hyper-aware of Jeonghan’s fingers still resting on his face, and not entirely sure about whether he should be happy that the two of them were not seeing each other or confused at what the heck pocket rockets were. 

“So, uh, you two  _ aren’t _ seeing each other?” He repeated. 

“Not at all. That’s just gross, Shua. We’re like family.” Jeonghan replied, absentmindedly reaching up and brushing back a strand of hair from Joshua’s face, making his skin tingle where he’d touched it. “Why? Were you, perhaps,  _ jealous _ ?” Jeonghan asked, a smirk on his face.

Joshua nearly choked at the accusation. “No.” He replied indignantly. “Of course not. Why would I be?” Pout already forming on his lips even as he tried to stop it.

Jeonghan just laughed and looked at him with what could only be a fondness in his eyes before leaning in. “It’s okay if you do, you know.” He murmured. “I would be flattered.” There was something in his voice that made a weird heat pool in his abdomen, that made him want to be a lot closer to Jeonghan all of a sudden.

Instead, he just snorted and shoved him lightly. “You wish, Hannie. What’s a pocket rocket anyway?” He asked, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, it’s an expression I tend to use for people who are small but have big-,”

“Woah woah woah,” Joshua cut him off. “I think I get it.”

Jeonghan eyed him playfully, “Do you? Because I was going to say ‘energies’.” He folded his arms. “What did  _ you _ think I was going to say?”

Joshua flushed a bright red and could only mutter a faint “nothing” before Jeonghan laughed and threw an arm around his shoulders, steering him back towards the direction of their vending machine.

“Come on Shua, let’s go get a drink.”

⚓⚓⚓

The long two weeks of hospital shifts following that night finally ended with Joshua and Jeonghan in the same operating theatre, where Joshua was assisting Jeonghan in an emergency surgery on a child who had been involved in a crash. They’d been in there for three hours and were probably only halfway through the procedure. Joshua watched as Jeonghan calmly worked on removing the fluid from the little girl’s collapsed lung, providing assistance when he was needed but otherwise left to wonder how he remained so calm while surrounded by so much blood. There had been no change whatsoever, no fangs, no glowing eyes not even a twitch to show that the blood was affecting him in any way.

_ Maybe bagged blood and human blood don’t smell the same. Maybe he’s more used to the processed stuff. _ Joshua chuckled inwardly at the thought because there was no way processed food could ever taste better than fresh food, so it had to be the same way for blood. Right? He was shaken from his thoughts by Jeonghan telling him that he was done with her lungs and that Joshua could finish the suturing. He then moved around the table to work on her spine while Joshua closed her up, neither of them saying anything else, comfortable in their silence. 

They’d spent the last two weeks at the hospital together, working the night shifts without a day off, and in doing so had developed a relationship that was half playful banter and half comfortable silence. They had become so attuned to each other within the short span of two weeks that, sometimes, words were no longer necessary. It was weird and completely unexpected for Joshua especially, who had always been more of a lone wolf than a social butterfly. But, for some reason, being with Jeonghan didn’t feel too different from being with himself and he barely needed to get used to the companionship.

They finished up the surgery, completed their handovers and clocked out, both looking forward to the three days they had off to make up for their two-week stint. It was still only around 4 in the morning when they left, plenty of time before sunrise, so Jeonghan offered to drop Joshua off. Joshua assumed he must have looked as tired as felt because Jeonghan had a sympathetic look on his face when he offered him the ride. Jeonghan, on the other hand, looked as though he could do another two weeks, maybe even without sleep. But Joshua knew that was the just the unchanging way of his vampiric features and that Jeonghan was just as exhausted as he was, and maybe slightly underfed. Joshua had even learned to recognise when Jeonghan needed more blood - his skin would start to develop a strange translucency, which would make the blood vessels more noticeable, creating a stark contrast against his pale skin. Right now, he was so pale that Joshua could make out even the deeper subcutaneous vessels.

_ Maintaining control during that surgery must have been hard for him _ , he thought to himself before reaching into his overnight bag and grabbing one of the blood bags he’d nicked from the operating theatre. He tossed it across at Jeonghan after the vampire had gotten into his seat and closed the door, earning a shocked look from the other.

Joshua merely shrugged, “You looked a bit peaky so I figured you wouldn’t say no to some extra B positive.”

Jeonghan smiled at him, grateful, before ripping into the bag and taking a huge gulp, “You know I like my B positives.”

They drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence, Joshua was pretty sure he had even nodded off a few times so he was even more thankful that Jeonghan had offered to drive him home. Although he realised, Jeonghan had been sending him home almost every day that their shifts had ended at the same time. He hadn’t realised it but it had become a routine for them so naturally. One day Jeonghan was offering him a ride home and the next Joshua had headed towards Jeonghan’s car himself. He frowned at the memory, he hoped he hadn’t been imposing. 

“Why are you frowning?” Jeonghan’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he looked over at the vampire who was already looking much better after the feeding. 

“Oh, nothing. I just realised that you’ve been driving me home almost every day. And some days I had just assumed you would without even asking.” He looked away, fingers running through his hair sheepishly. “I hadn’t realised...” he trailed off.

Jeonghan just snorted in response. “Are you serious? It’s fine. If I had a problem, I wouldn’t have driven you. Don’t worry about it.” He reached across and patted his arm and then added, with a smirking eyebrow waggle, “You can ride my car any time.”

Joshua burst out laughing even as he felt his ears heat up and chucked the cushion he was leaning on at Jeonghan’s face. “Just watch the road Hannie. Don’t want you getting into an accident cause you’re thinking about me  _ riding your car _ .” Cue Joshua’s own eyebrow waggle.

Jeonghan was laughing too when he responded, “I’m a vampire Josh, it’s gonna take a lot more than  _ thoughts _ to make me crash my car.”

Joshua rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling when Jeonghan eventually slowed to a stop in front of his apartment building. When had they become so comfortable that they could joke around like that? He was sure there was a line you just didn’t cross with friends, and jokes like that were definitely on the other side of that line, right? Oh my God, had they been flirting? He shook his head. he didn’t want to think about it.

He was just about to get out when Jeonghan stopped him. “Hey. What are you doing tonight?”

“Nothing,” he answered truthfully. “I was actually planning on drowning myself in pizza and anime for the next three days,” he added with a laugh.

“Well, you can come drown yourself in pizza over at mine,” Jeonghan said as he beamed at him excitedly. “It’s movie night apparently so Wonwoo will be over as well.”

Joshua laughed at his excitement. “Sure! But only if I get to pick the pizza because I’m  _ not _ trusting a vampire with my pie.”

Jeonghan pouted. “I’ll have you know that I’m a very trustworthy pizza picker. But fine, you order the pizza.”

Jeonghan’s expression caused a strange feeling to blossom within Joshua’s chest, which he promptly shoved aside. On the outside, he just smiled. “How about you pick one and I’ll pick one then we let Wonwoo and Mingyu decide who has better taste?”

“Call! It’s a date then.”

Joshua froze, halfway out the door. “Uh, yeah. I guess it is.” He laughed nervously. “I’ll, uh, see you later Hannie.” And he was out the door and inside the building before Jeonghan could even return the greeting and if Jeonghan had watched him leave with a troubled expression, Joshua didn’t know about it.

Joshua practically ran to his apartment, heart still racing as he fumbled the key code so that it took him three tries to get in instead of one. When he was finally inside, he collapsed against the front door allowing himself to slide slowly down until he was sitting on the ground. Why was he acting like this? He felt his face with the back of his hand and, yup, he was definitely flushed. He groaned as he put his head between his hands. All Jeonghan had said was the word “date” and he had run out of there like Jeonghan had brandished a red-hot poker at him. He didn’t even say it in a date-date way, so why was he acting all stupid.

An image of Jeonghan pouting appeared in his mind and Joshua audibly yelped before muttering consecutive, ‘No no no’s under his breath as he shook his head as if he was trying to clear it. It was just exhaustion, he told himself, and he hadn’t heard the word ‘date’, much less been on one, in such a long time that he was just surprised. Yes, that was it, that was definitely it. Exhaustion and surprise. It wasn’t because of how close he and Jeonghan had become over the last two weeks, and it definitely wasn’t because of that one time he had walked in on Jeonghan changing out of his scrubs in the men’s locker room at the hospital. No, definitely not. Even though he couldn’t help admitting that Jeonghan did have a nice pair of shoulders on him. And back. And...

Joshua groaned again at where his thoughts had gone and started to knock his head on the door as if trying to knock some sense into himself.  _ This isn’t working _ , he thought to himself. He just needed a hot (maybe cold) shower and a good rest and he would be fine. He nodded as if he was trying to convince himself of that as he slowly pushed himself off the floor and towards a much-needed shower and rest.

⚓⚓⚓

Joshua was definitely feeling a lot better when he arrived at Jeonghan’s apartment later that night, two packs of beer in hand, and after a long and well-deserved sleep. He was about to knock when he remembered that he now knew the keycode (Jeonghan had insisted, on the pretext that he refused to be woken up the next time Joshua insisted on surprising him with blood bags). He punched in the key code and entered the apartment, only to find himself in complete darkness. Jeonghan must still be asleep, even though it was already past 10pm, and he figured Mingyu and Wonwoo were probably still at the hospital. 

He sighed to himself, this is what happens when you decide to let yourself in without calling ahead. He checked the living room to make sure there was no undead creature asleep on the couch who could tear his head off for waking him up before turning on one of the smaller lamps and pulling up the blinds on the kitchen windows. Moonlight filtered in through the window, providing extra light for Joshua, who had also brought chips, peppers and salsa so that he could make nachos as a side to their pizza. He was just slicing through his second pepper when a sleepy voice sounded from behind him. He jerked in fright, brandishing the knife like a dagger before his eyes finally focused on the figure still half-hidden in the shadows. He breathed a sigh of relief, it was just Jeonghan. A very bedraggled Jeonghan, whose hair was, once again, sticking up in a hundred different directions. It was strangely endearing but Joshua pushed that thought of his mind before it could complete itself. 

“Oh, it’s just you Hannie.” He said in relief as he put the knife back on the counter. “I hope you don’t mind, I let myself in cause I thought you’d be-” his words cut off as Jeonghan’s head snapped up, eyes a cold electric blue and fangs fully bared. At the same time, Joshua’s mind registered a sharp pain in his left hand, he glanced down and realised he was bleeding. He must have cut himself in fright when he had jerked so suddenly before.  _ Shit _ . The cut was quite deep and his blood was dripping onto the kitchen floor. He looked back up and suddenly Jeonghan was there, just inches from his face. He’d seen Jeonghan come out from countless surgeries without any sign that he’d been around blood so he didn’t understand why Jeonghan was losing control now, didn’t even know he could. 

“Hannie,” he half-whispered. “It’s just me, Shua. Snap out of it.” 

But Jeonghan just made a noise like an angry cat and leaned in even closer. His mouth was so close to Joshua’s neck that he could feel every exhale, warm and damp on side of his neck. Joshua should have been afraid, very afraid, but for some reason, he wasn’t. Not even when he felt Jeonghan’s fangs on his neck. 

“Hannie, please.” He whispered, reaching out to grab the vampire’s arm. “Wake up.”

The physical contact brought Jeonghan back to his senses and he recoiled so fast he was on the other side of the room in a second. Even from that distance, Joshua could tell he was shaking, holding onto one of the dining room chairs for support. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, just loud enough for Joshua to make out. “I’m so sorry.”

Joshua made as if to move closer to him, to see if he was alright but Jeonghan stopped him. 

“No, don’t. Just stay there. I can’t… I barely have control right now.” His breathing was so laboured that the words were coming out in short spurts.

“Okay... Okay. I’m not moving.” He reassured the struggling vampire. “It’s okay, Hannie. You didn’t hurt me.” As he continued to reassure Jeonghan, he slowly reached behind him, hands roving over the countertop for the kitchen towel he’d seen earlier. When his fingers finally found the cloth, he swiftly pulled it off and wrapped his injured hand in it. 

That seemed to be the right thing to do because Jeonghan collapsed immediately, breathing heavily. After waiting what seemed to be an acceptable length of time for Jeonghan to regain control, Joshua slowly made his way to the other. He didn’t really know what to do, and he was so afraid of setting him off again, that he slowly sat himself down on the ground in front of Jeonghan. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Joshua asked tentatively.

Jeonghan barked out a dry unamused laugh “Am I okay? I should be the one asking you that.” He hung his head, “I could have killed you.” 

“But you didn’t. Hey, look at me,” Joshua reached out and slowly lifted his head up so that Jeonghan was looking at him. “You didn’t. And somehow, some part of me knew you wouldn’t.”

Jeonghan leaned into his touch just slightly, eyes closing. “You shouldn’t trust me so easily, you know.”

“Hmmm I know,” Joshua hummed, absentmindedly stroking Jeonghan’s cheek where he was leaning into it. “But it’s too late. I think I trusted you from the first ‘won’t kill you’.”

Jeonghan chuckled at the memory as he broke contact to lean back against his hands, eyes closed. Joshua waited until Jeonghan’s breathing had returned to normal, and he was sure that it was safe, before asking, “So, you wanna tell me what happened?”

“I don’t really know either,” Jeonghan answered, eyes still closed as he tried to recall what had happened. “All I remember is being asleep and then I heard you in the kitchen so I dragged myself out of bed to see what you were doing. But I was probably still half asleep because the next thing I knew I was hunting you, and the urge to feed was so strong. So  _ strong _ .” He opened his eyes and looked at Joshua. “I couldn’t stop. All I could think of was the smell of your blood… of you.” He looked away then, unable to meet Joshua’s eyes. “That was when you grabbed me and, somehow, that was all I needed to return to myself, to snap out of it.”  _ Like an anchor _ .

“Well, I’m glad I helped,” Joshua said as smiled lightly, before turning it into a smirk. “Wait, does that mean that you think I smell  _ delicious _ ?”

“Like a hundred times better than the bagged stuff actually,” Jeonghan replied seriously, not rising to the joke. 

For some reason, Joshua felt a surge of happiness at his words, which had also made his face warm, so he decided to change the subject before Jeonghan noticed. “You’ve done so many surgeries though and I’ve never seen you, you know, lose it.”

Jeonghan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “That’s because I have complete control, at least when I’m awake. But once I’m asleep or even half-asleep, I can’t stop the fangs from coming out. It’s definitely worse if the source is nearby, like you were tonight because then I might end up going into full hunt mode.”

“So you’re only ever really dangerous if you smell blood while you’re asleep?” Jeonghan nodded. “Well, I guess that means I’ll just have to take extra care not to cut myself if I sleep over.”

Jeonghan’s eye widened immediately but it took Joshua a few seconds for him to realise what he’d actually said. When he did, he blushed the brightest red he’d ever blushed and started to try and explain himself. But, of course, his brain had conveniently forgotten how to put words into sentences and he could only stammer out a few “No no”s and a couple of “Not what I meant”s before he was saved by the sound of the front door opening. Jeonghan just looked at him amusedly as he muttered a “thank God” when the front door opened and Wonwoo and Mingyu walked in. 

Wonwoo took one look at them, still sitting on the floor by the dining table, and the state of the apartment, before rounding on Jeonghan. “What the hell happened here?” 

Mingyu sniffed the air, “I smell blood.”

Wonwoo narrowed his eyes at them, “One of you better start explaining because if you fed on him Jeonghan you know what-”

Jeonghan cut him off with a rough, “I  _ didn’t, _ ” before continuing in a more calmer tone. “He cut himself while I was still half asleep and I- I lost control. But I didn’t feed on him and he actually helped bring me back.”

At that, Wonwoo raised a questioning eyebrow at Joshua, who was still slightly flustered and could only respond with an “Uh, yeah. I did. Somehow.”

Wonwoo hummed at his unconvincing answer, clearly unsure about whether he should be believing them but then his eyes settled on the flush in Joshua’s cheeks and his expression changed from serious to teasing. “Wait a second,” he said, looking between the two of them. “Did we interrupt something?”

The chorus of “No”s and “Of course nots” as the two of them scrambled to get to their feet did little to convince Wonwoo but for some reason, he didn’t press the issue, for which Joshua was grateful. 

⚓⚓⚓

The rest of the night passed by comfortably, with Mingyu insisting on dressing Joshua’s wound so that he wouldn’t make the vampires uncomfortable while Jeonghan took over the nacho-making from where Joshua had left off. Joshua also ended up winning the pizza showdown with both Mingyu and Wonwoo picking Joshua’s choice as the better choice in a blind taste test, so now Jeonghan owed him a week’s worth of coffee. Jeonghan had also pulled Joshua aside at one point to let him know that he wouldn’t misunderstand what Joshua had said earlier and that he could stop trying to avoid him. Because, of course, Joshua hadn’t known how to face the other (or himself) comfortably after his little slip up from before and had initially spent the night trying to stay out of Jeonghan’s way.

Now they were all good, and also nicely fed and sufficiently inebriated on Joshua and Mingyu’s part since vampires couldn’t get drunk it seemed. They had even managed to play a quick game of truth or dare between movies, during which Joshua had admitted that he thought Jeonghan had a very attractive set of back and shoulders. The latter, of course, had turned a faint pink and chucked a cushion at Joshua saying that it wasn’t nice to tell lies. 

Mingyu had also ended up admitting that Wonwoo feeds on him occasionally, shocking the other two and horrifying Wonwoo who had immediately stuffed an entire slice of pizza into the werewolf’s mouth to prevent him from revealing even more things. 

By 2am, they were already onto their second of four movies. Four because they had each picked one after realising that they had incredibly different tastes in movies. This was Mingyu’s choice so, of course, he had picked a horror movie because the wolf was literally scared of nothing. Wonwoo, on the other hand, was unashamedly buried in Mingyu’s chest only daring to take short glances at the TV screen. Joshua wasn’t a fan of horror movies but he could sit through them if he had to. While Jeonghan had tried to make himself look unaffected by the movie but Joshua had found the vampire getting closer and closer to him as time wore on. 

At some point, Jeonghan was practically leaning on Joshua, and Joshua had caught him reaching to grab his arm during the jump scares but he was also pulling himself back at the last moment. Joshua felt a bit sorry because he knew that Jeonghan was holding back because the latter didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable. But when they reached another jump scare and Jeonghan visibly jumped while actually grabbing Joshua’s arm this time (only to let him go almost as violently), Joshua gave in. His heart was racing as he reached down and slipped his hand into Jeonghan’s, earning a surprised look from the vampire. He smiled back reassuringly, in what he hoped was a platonically comforting way because, I mean, friends hold each other’s hands when they’re afraid right? But when a scene sent Jeonghan burying himself into Joshua’s side, a small part of him knew that he could no longer blame his rising heart rate on the jump scares. 

Joshua was just starting to get comfortable - after Jeonghan had decided to plant himself in the crook of his arm, declaring that he wasn’t going to watch the rest of the movie - when it happened. There was a loud bang, which they all thought had come from the movie at first. But when it happened again, and much louder, they realised that it was actually coming from the front door. 

Annoyed, Joshua glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 4 am, who the heck would be threatening to break down their door at this time. Joshua was about to start complaining when Jeonghan shot up and stared at the door, his fangs bared and hair visibly standing on end. He looked over at the other couple and saw that their postures now mirrored Jeonghan’s. Wonwoo was staring at the door, back ramrod straight, in complete vampire mode while even Mingyu was staring at the door, eyes glowing a strange amber and… was he growling? Joshua, as usual, was a bit lost but he could at least tell that whoever was on the other side of the door spelt trouble. 

When a third bang sounded, nearly shaking the entire apartment building, Wonwoo looked over at Jeonghan. “Let then in Hannie. You know you couldn’t have avoided this for long.”

Jeonghan just scowled and walked over to the door to let in their, clearly unwanted, guests. He opened the door to reveal three men, all dressed in charcoal gray silk suits and had walked right in without waiting for an invitation. Even though they looked around the same age as Joshua, he knew better, could see the weight of lifetimes reflected in their eyes. No, these men weren’t humans, they were vampires and very old ones by the looks of it. The minute their feet crossed the threshold both Wonwoo and Mingyu shot to their feet, fangs in full view, holding a defensive position in front of Joshua as Jeonghan returned to his side.

Wonwoo glowered at the one in the middle, clearly the leader. “Jonghyun.” he hissed. “What do the Elders want with us?”

“I think you know.” The guy in the middle returned measuredly, levelling a pointed gaze at Wonwoo. “Laws have to be maintained.” His eyes darted to land on Joshua, lips curling into a half smirk. Joshua felt all the hair on his body stand as the vampire’s gaze washed over him and he unconsciously backed into Jeonghan, who immediately put an arm around him. To stabilise him or reassure him, he didn’t know. 

“We’re not breaking any laws,” Wonwoo countered defiantly, eyes glowing silver. 

One of the other guys snickered at that, “And who is that you’re hiding?” He asked, taking a step towards them. “He’s definitely human.” He took a breath. “Ooh and a delicious one too.” 

Jeonghan hissed and drew Joshua closer to him but that just made the vampire laugh more. He made as if to take another step towards them but the middle one, Jonghyun? held out an arm to stop him. “Stand down, Minki. Behave yourself.”

Minki pouted slightly but grudgingly slunk back to his spot behind Jonghyun, who turned back to them. “Humans cannot be allowed to know of our existence, you know that. I’m sure you’re aware of what you were supposed to do.” He directed a levelled gaze specifically at Jeonghan. “Kill him or compel him. Although, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve already tried one of those options.” 

Joshua stiffened at the word.  _ Kill _ . He thought he was past all the death threats. But some small part of him knew that, of course, the last two weeks had been too good to be true. Even Wonwoo had mentioned that loose ends needed to be tied eventually so he didn’t know why he was even surprised. It was like delaying the inevitable.  

The other vampire, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly stepped forward. “Or,” he began slowly, “You can hand him over to us.  _ We _ can compel the resistant ones. Although,” he smiled wryly, “Many don’t come out quite the same after. Your choice, of course.”

“Screw off Minhyun,” Jeonghan growled. “I’m not letting you mess with Joshua’s head.”

Minhyun just smiled, a sharp feline smile, fangs peeking out from beneath his lips. “It looks like you only have one option then.” 

Jeonghan glared at him, “Will you shut up, for one second. I know what my choices are.”

That was when Joshua, who had been silently watching the whole situation, snapped. “Excuse me?!” he stepped away from Jeonghan and turned to look at him. “ _ Your _ choice? It’s  _ my _ life we’re talking about here! What about my choice?” He was shaking now, whether it was in fear or rage he didn’t know. He was vaguely aware of Jeonghan reaching toward him, but he jerked away turning instead toward the three vampires. 

“Why can’t you just… let me live?” He asked. “I’ve kept your secret safe these last two weeks, haven’t I? Isn’t that proof enough that I won’t tell anyone? And it’s not like anyone would believe me anyway.” He was shouting now, almost hysterical but the Elders only shook their heads.

“Shua…” Hannie began, reaching out for him but Joshua just backed away, shaking his head. 

“I don’t want to die,” he whispered. 

A heavy silence filled the room following Joshua’s outburst, even the three Elders remained silent, watching the scene. It was still silent when Joshua started shaking, still silent when he started to sob, still silent when Jeonghan crossed the room in a second to wrap Joshua in his arms and then Joshua broke down completely, and it wasn’t silent anymore. 

Jeonghan looked over his shoulder at Jonghyun without letting go of Joshua, “Give us 24 hours.  _ Please _ .” 

Jonghyun looked at him, a sad kind of understanding on his face. “Take it.,” he said as he gestured to the other two to leave. But as they crossed over the threshold, he looked back and added quietly, “We’re not all monsters you know. We, too, answer to someone higher than ourselves. We’re just doing what needs to be done.” And then he was gone. 

⚓⚓⚓

The departure of the Elders was like a stretched rubber band that had snapped back, suddenly everyone was in motion -  Mingyu scrambled to get the door shut, Wonwoo started to straighten out the living room and Jeonghan brought Joshua to his room.

Once they were in the darkness of Jeonghan room, Joshua was able to relax a little although he was still barely aware that Jeonghan had set them both on the bed and was just sitting there holding him. His mind was racing, even if his heart no longer was, and all he could think about was how it felt like life had just played the sickest joke on him. Had let him live that night, had let him discover that there were other races besides humans on earth, had even let him fall in love with one. Because he had, despite how hard he had been trying to convince himself otherwise. 

In a span of two weeks, Jeonghan had been able to open up a part of Joshua that he had kept sealed off for years. Sealed off while he waited for the right one, for the person who would have the key. The sudden realisation of his feelings made him gasp for breath, threatened to overwhelm him again, but he refused. Instead, he clung tighter to the shirt of the person holding him, the person who was keeping him stable. The person who was rubbing circles into the small of his back and whispering reassurances into his ear. The person who was keeping him from falling over the edge.  _ Like an anchor _ .

Joshua buried his face deeper into Jeonghan’s neck, suddenly overcome by the need to be closer to him, to breathe him in. And as much as he wanted to hate life, wanted to wish that all the events of that fateful night never happened, he knew he couldn’t. Because that night had brought him to Jeonghan, to love, however brief it was meant to be and he would never regret it.

It felt like hours, but was probably only one, before Joshua lifted his head from the other’s shoulder and looked at him, “Hannie…” he whispered.

“Hey…”, Jeonghan whispered back, hand coming up to brush the tears from his face, and whose swollen eyes told Joshua that he wasn’t the only one who had been crying.

“It’s okay, I’m… okay.” He took a shuddering breath before continuing. “I… I want to go home. Could you take me home?” If he was to die after 24 hours, he wanted to be somewhere he would be comfortable.

“Okay.”

⚓⚓⚓

They spent the drive home in silence, but with their fingers interlaced, as though they didn’t want to be apart any more than was necessary. Joshua knew a line had been crossed between them, unspoken as it was, and he no longer cared. He only had 24 hours left and he refused to spend it at war with himself over his feelings. He had nothing more to lose anyway. 

Jeonghan parked in front of Joshua’s apartment block and walked with him to his apartment. Joshua unlocked the door and was just about to step inside when he spoke. “You can come in. I mean… if you want to.”

“Of course I do,” Jeonghan replied seriously, not letting go of Joshua’s hand. 

Joshua led them into his apartment, which was a spacious one-room unit decked out in trendy, minimalist decor and practically screamed bachelor pad. Joshua noticed that Jeonghan had stopped to look around the apartment as though hoping that he could find out more about Joshua through his choice of decor. Joshua felt a smile tug at his lips at the expression on Jeonghan’s face. “You can look around if you want.” He said, finally letting go of Jeonghan’s hand. “I’m just going to make myself some tea. Do you want anything?”

Jeonghan shook his head as he left to wander around the apartment. Joshua watched him for a few seconds, smiling slightly to himself; it had been a while since he last let someone else into his apartment. He was just thinking that it was something he could get used to when he remembered why they were both here. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, refusing to spend his last few hours in such a low mood. If anything, he wanted to spend it happily so that at least he’d have no regrets when the time came. 

He put some water on to boil before heading to where Jeonghan was standing, in front of his wall of photos. Jeonghan was looking at them quietly, eyes moving from picture to picture. “Is this your family?” he asked, pointing to a photo of Joshua with his mum and dad when he had gone back to LA to visit them. 

“Yeah,” he answered. “They’re back in LA.”

Jeonghan turned to him, “Don’t you miss them?”

“All the time,” he replied. 

“How are you- what’s going to happen after- you know…” he trailed off, not looking Joshua in the eye. 

“I- I don’t know,” Joshua answered truthfully. “I don’t want to think about that right now.”

Jeonghan looked up at him, sad eyes boring into his own. “I’m so sorry, Shua. For everything. I shouldn’t have told you… should have just let you call the cops on me… should have done anything but tell you the truth. I just-,” he looked away, unable to look at him anymore. 

“Hey, don’t say that,” Joshua replied, moving closer to him. “It’s not your fault, it was never your fault. And I’m- I’m glad you told me because if you didn’t,” he took a shuddering breath and reached out to cup Jeonghan’s face, “I would never have known you.”

Jeonghan slowly lifted his gaze to meet his, uncertainty written across his features. “Was it worth it? To have known me for such a short time.” He lifted a hand to place it over Joshua’s where it’s was still resting on Jeonghan’s cheek. “Wouldn’t it have been better to not know me at all?”

“Never,” Joshua whispered, as he closed the gap between them. “And, for you, I would choose this all over again.”

Then his lips were on Jeonghan’s, rough, emotional, messy, arms circling around his waist to pull him closer. All the emotions from that night, from the past two weeks that he’d kept repressed, he poured out into that kiss. And Jeonghan was kissing him back, cupping his neck, pulling him closer. An anguished kind of desperation filled them as they explored each other’s mouths and bodies. And there was nothing else but each other in that moment, there was nothing else but the movement of mouth on mouth and body on body, nothing and no one else mattered but  _ them _ .

⚓⚓⚓

Joshua woke up the next day in his bedroom, a small part of him was starting to wonder how he’d gotten into bed when all the memories of the night before came flooding back.  _ Jeonghan _ . He blushed furiously at the thought and then blushed, even more, when he realised he was naked under his sheets. Just as he was about to bury himself in the covers from, was it happiness or embarrassment he wasn’t sure, he remembered something else. He lifted his hand to the curve of his neck and found them instantly, two points where the skin had been broken and torn, still raw. He winced slightly as he accidentally scratched one of the spots, feeling the pain as it coursed through him, from his neck to his arm. He waited for it to pass before pushing himself up, so he could head to the bathroom to properly assess the damage. 

Just as he was about to get out of bed, he felt an arm snake around his waist and tug him closer, pulling him back down. “Where are you going?” Jeonghan murmured, voice still hoarse with sleep, and maybe other things. Joshua let Jeonghan pull him in, before turning at the last moment so that they were both facing each other. 

“Just wanted to check how badly you tore up my neck,” he replied teasing, snaking an arm around Jeonghan’s waist and pulling himself closer still. 

Jeonghan’s eyes flew open and landed on the spot on Joshua’s neck where he had let the vampire feed the night before, where he had let Jeonghan feed, for the first time, on a human. Jeonghan’s hand traced up his back before circling the two bite marks, “Does it hurt?” he asked. 

Joshua shivered at the touch but shook his head, “Not really.”

“That’s good,” Jeonghan replied, smiling slightly before pressing a kiss to Joshua’s forehead and moving to comb his fingers through Joshua’s hair. Joshua leaned into the touch, and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment for a few seconds before looking back at Jeonghan. 

“Would you like some more?” Jeonghan’s eyes flashed at the offer but he took one more look at the ravaged skin on Joshua’s neck and shook his head. 

“I don’t think I should,” he answered. “You haven’t eaten and I don’t know if-,” his answer was cut off by Joshua pulling himself closer so that his neck was just under Jeonghan’s mouth. 

“I’ll be fine.” He whispered. “Go ahead.”

The smell of blood from the open wounds stirred up some part of Jeonghan, whose eyes flashed blue before he sank his fangs once more into Joshua’s neck. Joshua gasped and clutched at Jeonghan as he felt himself being drained, the blood loss made him slightly light-headed but the feeling itself wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, a weird sense of euphoria came over him, which almost made him want to let Jeonghan continue, to take it all. 

But before he knew it, it was over and Jeonghan was carefully detaching his fangs from the rips on Joshua’s neck, making him wince whenever a fang caught on a piece of skin. Jeonghan wiped his lips with the back of his hand while he surveyed Joshua, as though trying to assess if he was alright. Joshua smiled at him reassuringly, “I’m fine Hannie, don’t worry. But I could definitely use some food too right about now.”

Jeonghan started at him for another long moment, as though not quite believing him, but he finally gave in and sat up. “Okay. Let’s go wash up and I’ll make you some food.” 

⚓⚓⚓

Joshua was still pulling a hoodie over his head when the smell of coffee came wafting through his slightly open bedroom door because he’d insisted of spending an extra fifteen minutes in the shower after Jeonghan had decided that the water was too hot for his cold vampire body. Joshua smiled at the memory of Jeonghan grumbling when he’d first stepped into the steamy shower. Who would have thought that he and Jeonghan would end up like this? Then again, who would have that he’d also be dead in a couple of hours? He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets before heading out the door. 

The sight of Jeonghan standing by the stove, calmly tossing a pancake into the air greeted him as he got to the kitchen. The vampire turned at the sound of Joshua’s footfalls and smiled at him, “I made you some coffee” he said, placing a steaming mug in front of him as he sat down at the island counter he’d turned into a dining table. 

“Mmmm... Thank you,” he replied as he took a big gulp. He frowned a bit at the aftertaste but continued drinking, grateful when energy immediately returned to his drained body. The bite marks on his neck started to itch a bit and he nearly reached up to scratch it reflexively, but he managed to stop himself in time. As a nurse, he should know better than anyone than to pick at healing wounds. 

Jeonghan slid a plate of pancakes and eggs across the island to him and the smell immediately made his stomach rumble. “Oh my God, this looks amazing Hannie,” he said as he dug in. 

Jeonghan just laughed as he walked around the island to seat himself beside Joshua, “Slow down or you’re gonna end up choking to death. I already don’t have much time left with you, please don’t make it shorter.”

Joshua huffed out a laugh, “Don’t worry, I don’t wanna die sooner than I have to either.” He looked over at the other and, despite the laughter, could see the sadness in his eyes, could tell that they were both just trying to make light of a really dark situation. Joshua reached across and took his hand, not needing words to convey what he was thinking, and Jeonghan interlaced their fingers, rubbing circles into Joshua’s hand with his thumb while he carried on eating. 

They spent the rest of the day like that, with each other, mainly cuddled up on the couch as they switched between comfortable silences and meaningful conversations. Most of the time they would talk about their families or their lives before the hospital. That was when Joshua found out that Jeonghan was over half a millennium old, 648 years to be exact and that even though Wonwoo wasn’t the one who had turned him, it was with him that Jeonghan had spent most of his vampire life with. He also found out that Wonwoo was just over a thousand years old and that even Mingyu was over 200, although neither looked a day over 25. 

Jeonghan, on the other hand, found out that Joshua had spent most of his life in the US and had only moved to Seoul when he was 20, for university. Joshua had also admitted that Jeonghan was the first guy he’d ever been attracted to and that he had refused to admit it to himself. Not because he was a guy but because of his firm belief in soulmates and he didn’t think he would find his in such a weird way. 

Jeonghan had laughed at that. “So, you think I’m your soulmate, huh?” 

But Joshua just smacked him saying, “Don’t be so full of yourself. I said no such thing.” Of course, his expression said otherwise, so Jeonghan didn’t press the issue. Instead, he just pulled Joshua closer and whispered, “I love you, Hong Joshua. So much.”

Joshua stiffened slightly surprised by the sudden confession but he softened almost immediately, turning in Jeonghan’s arms so that he was facing him. “I love you too, Yoon Jeonghan. More than life itself.” He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “So yes,” he whispered, “I  _ do _ think that are my soulmate. My one and only.”

Jeonghan smiled against his lips, “And you are mine. In all my 600 years of living, I don’t think I’ve loved anyone like I love you.”

Joshua pulled back and narrowed his eyes at the vampire, “And how many people have you loved exactly?”

Jeonghan just hummed and pulled him closer, “That’s not important.” 

“Uh huh,” Joshua replied, unconvinced but he let Jeonghan pull him into another kiss anyway, which led to another and another. 

⚓⚓⚓

Jeonghan and Joshua were still lying on the couch when the knock on the door came. Joshua stiffened and Jeonghan reflexively held him tighter before they realised that someone had to answer the knock. Sighing, Joshua got up and headed towards the door. He opened it and was greeted by the same three Elders that had visited them back at Jeonghan’s place, was it only a day ago? 

Jonghyun nodded in greeting as he stepped into the apartment and took in his surroundings. “Nice place you have here,” he acknowledged. 

Joshua just levelled a look at him, “Let’s just skip the small talk and get this over with, okay?”

Jeonghan came up beside him and took his hand encouragingly. Jonghyun noticed the movement and looked down at their hands for a brief moment before looking back at them. Clearing his throat he said, “I take it you’ve, uh, said your goodbyes.”

Joshua tightened his grip on Jeonghan’s hand and looked away, unable to answer while Jeonghan just glared at Jonghyun. “So, how does this happen?” 

Minhyun stepped forward then, more respectful this time. “Well, we can do it. Or, you could do it? It tends to get a bit personal so…” he trailed off. 

Jeonghan looked at Joshua, who nodded, before answering, “I’ll do it.” 

Jonghyun nodded at Minki, who drew an ornate dagger from the sheath at his hip and handed it over to Jeonghan. Jeonghan drew a shaky breath as he took a hold of the knife before turning back to face Joshua. He nodded encouragingly at the vampire, trying but failing to stop himself from shaking as Jeonghan walked towards him with the knife, tears streaming down his face. 

Joshua felt his own tears fall and closed his eyes. He felt an arm circle his shoulders, felt breath on the side of his face, just as he felt the point of the dagger against his chest. He could hear Jeonghan’s shaky breathing in his ear as he tried to control his sobs and his voice as he whispered in his ear, “Remember what I said, the first night we met. What I had to keep telling you that night because you wouldn’t believe me.” Joshua’s breath hitched as the words came to him, clear as if Jeonghan had just spoken them.  _ I’m not going to kill you _ . Then Jeonghan stabbed him. 

⚓⚓⚓

⚓⚓⚓

_ Joshua woke up the following morning, to an unfamiliar room and a note telling him that he was not to, under any circumstances, open the blinds that covered the windows around the house. He was also surprised to find a glass of water and a blood bag on the bedside table.  _

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: Wahhh thank you all so much for the 1000 hits and all the Kudos!! I'm honestly considering a sequel/prequel/part 2 to this verse now ;)
> 
> Hehehehe. Hope you enjoyed the fic! Please leave some kudos if you did~
> 
> Comment if you managed to figure out how Josh gets turned (it's hinted in the fic) or talk to me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/_moonfleur_) :)


End file.
